DeVante Swing
DeVanté Swing | |
|---|---|
| Born | Donald Earle DeGrate Jr. September 29, 1969 Hampton, Virginia, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Dalvin DeGrate (brother), Derek DeGrate (brother) |
| Musical career | |
| Origin | Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | keyboards, piano, guitar |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | |
Donald Earle DeGrate Jr. (born September 29, 1969), better known by his stage name DeVanté Swing, is an American record producer, singer, songwriter and rapper. He is best known as the main songwriter and producer of the R&B group Jodeci, which includes his younger brother Dalvin “Mr. Dalvin” DeGrate.[1] DeVante Swing also created Swing Mob, which consisted of various artists he discovered and mentored, such as Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Magoo, Ginuwine, Static Major with Playa, Darryl Pearson, Tweet, Jimmy Douglass, Stevie J, and Chad "Dr. Ceuss" Elliott among others.
Career
[edit | edit source]At age 16, DeVanté Swing traveled to Minneapolis, hoping to visit Paisley Park in order to audition for Prince.[2][3] Swing would later say, "I was up at Paisley Park every day begging for a job, asking people to listen to my tape. The receptionist kept saying she couldn't help me".[4] The rejection motivated Swing to relocate back to North Carolina, and work to improve his songwriting and production skills.[5]
In his early career, Swing served as a mix engineer, while simultaneously producing for other acts. He mixed and engineered Hi-Five's 1990 single "I Just Can't Handle It", along with its accompanying remixes. Swing rose to prominence in the 1990s as the founding member of the R&B group Jodeci, which he formed with his younger brother Dalvin DeGrate, and singers Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey, and Joel "JoJo" Hailey.[6] Swing served as the group's leader, and primary songwriter and producer.
Swing founded the musical collective Swing Mob in 1991, which was joined by then-unknown regional acts including Timbaland & Magoo, Tweet, Missy Elliott,[7] Ginuwine, Stevie J and Static Major. He is also credited as a video director for Jodeci, co-directing the videos for "Feenin'" with Hype Williams and "Freek'n You" with Brett Ratner. Swing has also mentored Florida-based rapper Flo Rida[8] in the early stages of his career.
Discography
[edit | edit source]- Forever My Lady (1991)
- Diary of a Mad Band (1993)
- The Show, the After Party, the Hotel (1995)
- The Past, the Present, the Future (2015)
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).[permanent dead link]
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).[permanent dead link]
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- Devante Swing Interview with Sterlen Roberts
- James T. Jones IV (March 10, 1992). "Jodeci throws its voice into the doo-wop" Archived 2012-11-06 at the Wayback Machine. USA Today, p. 4D
- DeVante Swing biography at AllMusic
Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 153: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Record producers from Virginia
- American soul singers
- Jodeci members
- Living people
- American hip-hop singers
- Singer-songwriters from Virginia
- Musicians from Hampton, Virginia
- 1969 births
- African-American male songwriters
- 21st-century African-American male singers
- 21st-century American male singers
- 20th-century African-American male singers
- 20th-century American male singers
- 20th-century American singers
- American hip-hop biography stubs